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HARVARD  BULLETINS  IN 
EDUCATION 

NUMBER  VI 


This  Bulletin,  the  third  issued  under  the  series-title 
"  Harvard  Bulletins  in  Education/'  continues  the  series 
begim  as  "  The  Harvard-Newton  Bulletins."  It  is 
therefore  numbered  VI.  The  volumes  heretofore  issued 
are: 

I.  The  School  System  as  an  Educational  Lab- 
oratory. 

II.  Scales  for  the  Measurement  of  English  Com- 
position. 

III.  Bridging  the  Gap:  The  Transfer  Class. 

IV.  A  Selected  Critical  Bibliography  of  Voca- 
tional Guidance. 

V.  A  Descriptive  Bebliography  of  Measurement 
in  Elementary  Subjects. 


HARVARD  BULLETINS  IN  EDUCATION 


BUSINESS  PRACTICE 
IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS 


BY 
ROY  DAVIS 


> . »  ,  ■•«  :  » 


PUBLISHED  BY  HARVARD  UNIVERSITY 
CAMBRIDGE,  MASS. 


COPYRIGHT,  19 1 7 
HARVARD  UNIVERSITY 


•  «•.••     • 


INTRODUCTION 

This  study  was  conducted  under  the  direction  of  Professor  Henry 
W.  Holmes  of  the  Division  of  Education,  Harvard  University. 
Whatever  merit  the  study  has  is  in  great  measure  due  to  his  criti- 
cisms and  suggestions.  Mr.  Edwin  F.  Field  of  the  Mechanic  Arts 
High  School,  Boston,  gave  many  suggestions  regarding  the  con- 
clusions that  are  drawn.  The  superintendents  who  so  readily  per- 
mitted the  questions  to  be  given  in  their  cities  and  the  teachers 
who  conducted  the  examinations  have  shown  by  their  cheerful 
cooperation  a  widely  prevaiHng  readiness  to  help  in  any  study 
likely  to  add  to  our  knowledge  of  education. 

Some  teachers  have  regretted  that  the  names  of  the  cities  and 
schools  involved  have  not  been  given.  It  seems  best,  however, 
that  such  facts  should  not  be  published,  as  it  would  be  unfair  to 
give  the  ranking  of  these  schools  and  cities  without  a  statement  of 
the  causes  accounting  for  their  various  standings.  A  statement 
of  such  causes,  even  if  adequately  known,  would  have  fixed  atten- 
tion on  the  schools  rather  than  on  the  results  of  the  investigation 
as  a  whole. 

Roy  Davis. 

College  of  Business  Administration 

OF  Boston  University 

Boston,  Massachusetts 


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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/busipractieleschooOOdavirich 


BUSINESS  PRACTICE 
IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS 


!    '-  -. 


BUSINESS   PRACTICE 
IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS 

The  Investigation  Defined 

The  purpose  of  this  investigation  was  to  discover  what  knowl- 
edge pupils  in  the  eighth  grade  have  of  business  terms  which  they 
meet  in  arithmetic,  such  terms  as  insurance,  check,  interest,  stock, 
bank,  commission,  promissory  note,  money,  broker,  and  the  like. 
Throughout  this  report  the  arithmetic  in  which  such  terms  are 
used  will  be  called  "  business  practice." 

The  Origin  of  the  Investigation 

The  investigation,  although  dealing  with  the  content  of  topics 
used  in  arithmetic,  originated  in  an  attempt  to  teach  English  in  a 
commercial  evening  high  school.  The  pupils  of  all  ages,  from  forty 
years  to  fifteen,  seemed  almost  desperately  in  earnest  —  more  in 
earnest  in  a  way  than  their  instructor  was.  He  felt  the  oppressive- 
ness of  a  certain  vagueness  of  aim,  which,  at  first  at  least,  did  not 
seem  to  be  shared  by  his  pupils.  Whatever  mental  food  he 
ladeled  out,  an  essay  from  the  Sketch  Book  or  an  exercise  in  gram- 
mar, they  eagerly  took.  At  no  time  did  the  instructor  feel  that  his 
classes  lacked  willingness. 

At  the  same  time,  he  gradually  became  aware  that  the  point  of 
view  of  the  pupils  was  sharply  contrasted  with  his.  They  were 
looking  for  better  jobs;  he  was,  or  thought  he  was,  giving  them 
information  which  should  broaden  their  general  outlook.  He  had 
an  uneasy  feehng  that  his  pupils  reUed  on  his  judgment  much  as 
most  of  us  rely  on  the  judgment  of  our  physicians.  We  take  their 
medicines,  bitter  and  sweet,  because  we  feel  sure  that  they  know 
best  what  we  need.  It  must  be  confessed,  however,  to  cite  an 
actual  experience,  that  when  a  teamster  asserts  that  he  is  studying 
to  get  "  office  work,"  it  takes  considerable  indirect  reasoning  to 
show  that  reading  Rip  Van  Winkle  is  one  of  the  surest  and 


4      ;!BukN5^SS;PRACtl^^         ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS 

readiest  means  of  his  landing  the  job.  Not  to  pursue  the  matter 
further,  it  may  be  said  that  the  instructor  after  considerable 
investigation,  came  to  the  following  conclusion : 

As  the  business  world  at  times  invades  any  field  in  which  buying  and  sell- 
ing are  found,  so  business  English  may  use  almost  any  form  of  literary  expres- 
sion. But  just  as  business  usually  claims  certain  forms  of  activity  as  its 
peculiar  field,  so  does  it  employ  certain  forms  of  expression  which  it  has 
originated  or  adapted  and  which  are  now  distinctly  its  own. 

Following  along  the  line  indicated  in  the  preceding  paragraph, 
the  instructor  began  to  choose  business  subjects  upon  which  his 
pupils  were  to  write  and  talk.  But  here  a  difficulty  presented 
itself  —  his  pupils  did  not  know  much  about  business  matters. 
They  might  know  about  the  machine  in  a  particular  mill,  or  about 
telegrams,  or  some  specific  topic  which  was  associated  with  their 
particular  jobs,  but  of  business  things  in  general  they  knew  little 
or  nothing. 

It  was  at  this  point  that  the  problem  switched  over  into  arith- 
metic. An  able  teacher,  who  had  classes  in  civil  service  work, 
both  in  evening  high  school  and  in  a  Young  Men's  Union,  pointed 
out  that  in  civil  service  classes,  the  pupils  were  definitely  working 
for  better  jobs;  their  studies  were  about  the  things  that  touched 
their  daily  lives  and  consequently  were  such  that  they  knew 
something  about  them  and  could  readily  get  more  knowledge  of 
them  when  necessary. 

At  the  same  time,  a  member  of  a  textbook  publishing  house 
was  confident  that  the  modern  arithmetics  used  in  the  grades  were 
eminently  practical.  He  said  that  anyone  looking  for  subjects  of 
practical  interest  to  pupils  need  only  make  a  list  of  the  topics 
used  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  grade  arithmetics  published  by  his 
house.  Naturally  the  question  arose  as  to  just  how  much  grade 
pupils  knew  of  the  content  of  the  practical  subjects  in  their  arith- 
metics. As  has  been  said,  the  pupils  in  the  evening  school, 
although,  as  a  rule,  older  than  those  in  the  eighth  grade  of  the 
elementary  school,  did  not  appear  to  know  much  about  business 
matters  when  called  upon  to  use  these  subjects  in  written  and 
oral  English.  It  seemed  improbable  that  eighth  grade  pupils 
would  be  any  better  informed. 


BUSINESS  PRACTICE  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS  5 

The  problem  then  became  plain  and  was,  as  stated  at  first,  to 
discover  just  what  knowledge  pupils  in  the  eighth  grade  have  of 
business  terms  used  in  arithmetic. 

The  Emphasis  on  the  Practical  in  Modern 
Arithmetic 

Modern  arithmetics  and  educational  authorities  lay  much 
stress  on  the  selection  of  problems  from  business  Ufe.  It  is  true 
that  everyone  insists  that  the  main  thing  is  to  make  the  pupil 
graduating  from  the  eighth  grade  expert  in  the  fundamentals,  in 
addition,  subtraction,  multiplication,  and  division  and  in  the 
common  manipulations  that  involve  decimals,  percentage,  and 
the  like.  But  in  addition  it  is  claimed  that  arithmetical  problems 
should  where  possible  be  chosen  from  business,  so  that  the  pupils 
will  be  familiar  with  what  they  will  actually  use  in  later  life.  The 
following  references  indicate  the  modern  point  of  view. 

In  1913,  Professor  Walter  A.  Jessup  sent  a  questionnaire  to  the 
city  superintendents  in  practically  all  the  cities  of  four  thousand 
inhabitants  and  over  in  the  United  States.  The  same  question- 
naire was  sent  also  to  every  sixth  county  superintendent  in  the 
country.  The  questions  were  on  the  matter  of  giving  less  or  more 
time  to  certain  "  material  used  in  arithmetic."  The  thorough- 
ness of  this  investigation  can  leave  no  doubt  that  Professor 
Jessup 's  deductions  based  on  it  are  a  fair  indication  of  the 
general  opinion  throughout  the  United  States  as  to  what  should 
and  should  not  be  taught  in  arithmetic.  In  his  report  Professor 
Jessup  says: 

There  was  a  very  strong  sentiment  in  favor  of  increasing  the  emphasis  on 
the  application  of  arithmetic  to  the  social  and  economic  conditions  of  the 
day;  such  as  the  saving  and  loaning  of  money,  taxation,  public  expenditure, 
insurance,  etc.  For  example  61  per  cent  would  increase  the  time  devoted  to 
"  saving  and  loaning  money,"  55  per  cent  to  an  increase  in  the  time  given  to 
insurance.    Adapted  from  N.  E.  A.,  1914,  pp.  209-222. 

There  is  also  great  pressure  to  modernize  the  course  [in  arithmetic]. 
This  is  being  done  by  eliminating  obsolete  problem  material,  topics,  and 
processes,  and  by  substituting  therefor  modern  problem  material.  There  is 
pressure  to  make  the  subject  possess  informational  as  well  as  disciplinary 
value.  Current  Practices  and  Standards  in  Arithmetic,  p.  117;  Fourteenth 
Year  Book,  National  Society  for  the  Study  of  Education. 


6  BUSINESS  PRACTICE  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS 

An  examination  of  the  arithmetic  texts  used  in  the  schools  con- 
nected with  this  investigation  reveals  the  same  point  of  view. 
The  books  claim  to  be  effective  because  their  problems  are  con- 
nected with  the  practical  problems  of  real  business  life.  For 
example,  in  the  preface  to  one  arithmetic  the  authors  say: 

These  texts  in  arithmetic  are  devised  to  train  children  to  meet  the  ordinary- 
demands  of  life.  Practical  efficiency  rather  than  mental  discipline  or  scholas- 
tic thoroughness  has  been  the  chief  aim  in  their  organization.  Whatever 
the  average  man  needs  to  know  in  mathematical  terms  because  of  its  fre- 
quency of  occurrence  in  his  life  or  because  of  its  urgency  and  importance,  has 
been  here  included.  Whatever  has  small  social  utility  has  been  omitted. 
Emphasis  has  been  laid  upon  practical  power  and  practical  thoroughness 
throughout. 

Another  says : 

The  scope  of  the  work  is  restricted  to  the  needs  of  the  majority  of  persons 
in  the  common  experiences  of  life.  Traditional  materials  that  make  no  con- 
tribution to  the  mastery  of  essentials  of  arithmetic  have  been  carefully 
eliminated. 

The  authors  of  a  third  arithmetic  state  that: 

The  social  and  industrial  factors  in  American  communities  enter  largely 
into  the  pupil's  life.  This  renders  material  drawn  from  industrial  sources  and 
from  every  day  affairs  of  high  pedagogical  value  for  arithmetic. 

Finally  the  collaborators  on  a  fourth  series  write  as  follows  in 
their  preface: 

The  preceding  books  [of  this  seriesl  have  laid  emphasis  on  home  and 
school  interests;  this  book  reaches  out  into  the  world  of  business,  industry, 
and  civic  affairs. 

Under  the  dominant  aim  of  mental  discipline,  which  fastened  itself  upon 
the  teaching  of  arithmetic  many  years  ago,  our  instruction  in  this  subject 
has,  until  recently,  lagged  sadly  behind  that  in  other  subjects.  Although  the 
doctrine  of  mental  discipline  has  professedly  been  abandoned  by  all  enlight- 
ened teachers,  our  textbooks  have  not  yet  loosened  the  shackles  of  this 
formalistic  view  of  the  subject. 

It  would  be  elucidating  the  obvious  to  quote  further.  The 
tendency  today  is  to  select  where  practicable  the  arithmetic 
problems  from  the  business  world  and  the  social  life  of  the  child. 

This  selection  is  made  in  the  main  for  three  reasons :  first,  that 
the  child  may  find  in  his  arithmetic  an  interest  additional  to  the 
purely  mathematical  one;   second,  that  he  may  be  able  to  do 


BUSINESS  PRACTICE  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS  7 

special  arithmetical  problems  which  he  is  Ukely  to  meet  in  real 
business;  and,  third,  that  he  may  acquire  some  information 
about  some  of  the  facts  and  institutions  of  the  business  world. 
Of  course,  in  addition,  there  is  the  further  reason  which  recognizes 
that  the  solving  of  arithmetical  problems  of  any  kind  gives 
expertness  in  the  fundamentals. 

The  Method  of  Investigation 

A  set  of  questions  was  prepared  based  upon  problems  in  arith- 
metic which  were  common  to  many  widely  used  texts.  These 
questions  were  worded  so  as  to  preclude  any  reasonable  likeh- 
hood  of  misunderstanding  their  meaning.  Nothing  that  might  be 
called  a  catch  question  was  admitted  and  all  the  questions  were 
submitted  for  criticism  and  revision  to  various  teachers,  prin- 
cipals, and  superintendents.   The  questions  were: 

BUSINESS  PRACTICE 

questions  to  be  answered  in  writing  by  pupils  of  the  last 
grade  in  elementary  schools 

1.  Have  you  ever  seen  a  life  insurance  policy  ?  When  did  you 
see  it  and  where  ?  What  did  it  look  like  ? 

2.  What  is  a  life  insurance  policy  about  ? 

3.  How  is  a  check  used  ? 

4.  What  is  the  difference  between  signing  and  endorsing  a 
check  ? 

5.  What  is  the  meaning  in  business  of  "  interest  "  ? 

6.  Explain  as  fully  as  you  can  the  meaning  of  railroad  stock. 

7.  Explain  as  fully  as  you  can  the  meaning  of  dividend. 

8.  Explain  as  fully  as  you  can  the  meaning  of  par  value. 

9.  Mr.  Brown  has  5/8  of  his  money  invested  in  railway  stock 
and  the  remainder  deposited  in  a  bank.  What  did  Mr.  Brown 
do  to  invest  his  money  in  railway  stock  ?  How  did  he 
deposit  his  money  in  a  bank  ? 

10.  A  dealer  pays  $9,737.50  for  some  wool,  including  the  pur- 
chasing agent's  commission  of  2^  per  cent.  Show  that  you 
know  the  meaning  of  the  word  *'  commission." 


8  BUSINESS  PRACTICE  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS 

11.  Show  how  a  promissory  note  may  be  used  in  business. 

12.  A  firm  fails  with  assets  of  $20,000  and  liabilities  of  $67,000. 
Explain  what  is  meant  by  "assets  "  and  '^  liabilities." 

13.  What  is  a  savings  bank  ?  Why  is  it  a  good  place  to  put  your 
money  ? 

14.  What  is  a  post-office  money  order?  How  can  you  get  one? 
What  is  it  used  for  ? 

15.  What  makes  a  dollar  bill  worth  as  much  as  a  silver  dollar  ? 

16.  "A  broker  usually  charges  brokerage  of  1/8  per  cent  for 
buying  or  selling  stock."  What  is  the  meaning  of  "  broker  " 
and  ''  brokerage  "  ? 

17.  '^  Our  firm  has  one  method  of  treatment  for  all  customers: 
a  fixed  price  with  a  regular  5  per  cent  discount  for  cash." 
What  is  meant  by  "  fixed  price  "  and  "  5  per  cent  discount 
for  cash  "  ? 

18.  Explain  what  is  meant  by  buying  a  piano  "  on  the  install- 
ment plan." 

19.  What  is  a  mortgage  ? 

20.  What  kinds  of  taxes  can  you  name  ? 

21.  The  tax  rate  in  a  certain  town  is  $10  a  thousand.  What  does 
that  mean  ? 

22.  What  does  an  assessor  do  ? 

The  questions  were  printed  and  then  sent  to  various  cities  of 
various  sizes  and  in  many  instances  widely  separated.  Some 
replies  are  from  large  cities,  some  from  those  of  medium  size,  and 
others  from  those  of  only  a  few  thousand  inhabitants.  Where 
more  than  one  school  was  selected  in  the  same  system,  care  was 
taken  to  have  those  schools  represent  somewhat  different  methods 
of  instruction.  In  several  instances  a  set  of  papers  was  obtained 
from  pupils  in  the  first  year  in  high  school.  By  this  means  a  gen- 
eral average  was  obtained  for  a  whole  system ;  an  average,  it  may 
be  noted,  likely  to  be  more  favorable  to  the  system  than  if  taken 
from  an  eighth  grade  elementary  class,  as  a  first  year  class  in 
high  school  is,  as  a  rule,  a  selected  group. 


BUSINESS  PRACTICE  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS  9 

Marking  the  Papers 

The  answers  were  graded  into  three  classes.  Those  that  were 
considered  "  good  "  were  marked  "  G,"  those  considered  of  no 
value  were  marked  "  P,"  and  all  others  were  marked  "  F." 
Opinions  were  widely  sought  regarding  just  what  should  be  a  good 
answer  by  an  eighth  grade  pupil.  Every  effort  was  made  always 
to  give  the  pupil  the  benefit  of  the  doubt  and  to  consider  favor- 
ably what  in  some  instances  plainly  was  intended  to  be  said  rather 
than  what  was  said.  No  deduction  was  made  for  grammatical 
errors,  incorrect  spelling,  or  other  mistakes  usually  considered  in 
marking  the  language  of  a  paper. 

On  the  whole,  it  may  be  said  that  the  answers  marked  ''  F  '^ 
are  of  little  value.  They  exhibit,  as  a  rule,  only  the  most  rudi- 
mentary knowledge.  Those  marked  "  P  "  are  entirely  inadequate 
or  do  not  answer  the  question  at  all. 

It  should  be  said,  however,  that  consideration  was  given  to  the 
difficulty  of  a  question.  For  example,  as  "  par  value  "  is  a  sub- 
ject essentially  more  dif&cult  to  understand  than  "  payment  on 
the  installment  plan,"  therefore  more  was  expected  in  an  answer 
to  the  latter. 

Specimen  Answers 

Below  are  given  specimen  answers. 

Question  i.  Have  you  ever  seen  a  life  insurance  policy  ?  When 
did  you  see  it  and  where  ?  What  did  it  look  like  ? 

Answer  G.  Yes.  A  man  from  Oakland  came  to  our  house  a 
long  time  ago.  It  is  a  large  paper  that  you  sign  that  tells  your 
age,  your  name,  for  how  much  you  are  insured,  and  the  name  of 
the  company  where  you  are  insured. 

F.  I  have  seen  a  life  insurance  policy  at  home. 
P.   I  do  not  know  what  it  looks  Uke. 

2.   What  is  a  life  insurance  policy  about  ? 

G.  A  life  insurance  policy  is  a  policy  gotten  out  by  an  insur- 
ance company  that  certifies  that  you  will  get  a  certain  amount  of 
money  at  death  or  the  expiration  of  a  stated  number  of  years. 
To  get  a  life  insurance  policy  you  must  be  examined  by  a  physi- 


lO       BUSINESS  PRACTICE  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS 

cian  and  proved  well  and  free  from  disease.  At  death  or  the 
expiration  of  a  stated  number  of  years  the  money  may  be  paid  to 
the  person  it  is  made  out  to. 

F.  It  tells  of  the  different  kinds  of  insurance  with  the  amount 
for  young  and  old  also  the  person's  name  and  the  amount  paid. 

P.  About  the  persons  that  are  insured. 

3.  How  is  a  check  used  ? 

G.  A  check  is  an  order  on  a  bank  to  pay  a  named  person  a 
specified  amount  of  money.  You  must  have  money  in  the  bank. 

F.  A  check  is  used  as  money. 

P.  When  you  pay  your  rent  the  landlord  gives  you  a  check. 

4.  What  is  the  difference  between  signing  and  endorsing  a 
check  ? 

G.  When  a  man  gives  a  check  and  signs  it  that  means  that  he 
has  given  his  word  that  the  money  is  in  the  bank  so  that  the 
receiver  can  draw  it.  Endorsing  a  check  is  signing  your  name  on 
the  back  which  means  if  the  giver  fails  you  are  to  make  it  good. 

F.  To  sign  means  to  put  your  name  on  the  check  to  endorse 
means  to  have  another  person  sign  but  you  must  approve  of  it. 

P.   Endorsing  a  check  is  to  sign  your  signature. 

5.  What  is  the  meaning  in  business  of  "  interest  "  ? 

G.  Interest  is  money  paid  by  the  banks  or  people  for  the  use 
of  an  amount  of  money. 

F.  Interest  means  so  many  dollars  a  year. 

P.  Interest  means  that  you  get  so  much  interest  on  the  money 
you  pay  for  furniture  or  goods. 

6.  Explain  as  fully  as  you  can  the  meaning  of  *'  railroad  stock. '' 

G.  Railroad  stock  is  the  shares  of  the  railroad.  The  company 
believes  the  railroad  to  be  worth  so  much.  This  is  the  company's 
value.  Then  the  value  is  divided  into  different  shares  of  a  certain 
per  cent.   This  is  the  railroad  stock. 

F.  Stock  is  a  term  used  in  any  speculation  and  is  divided  into 
shares. 

P.  For  any  railroad  the  passengers  must  know  how  it  should 
be  farcing  and  how  it  is  valued. 


BUSINESS  PRACTICE  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS        II 

7.  Explain  as  fully  as  you  can  the  meaning  of  '*  dividend." 
G.   Dividend  means  that  when  a  company  is  prosperous  it  pays 

its  stockholders  a  certain  per  cent  of  its  earnings. 

F.  Dividend  is  something  given  to  induce  trade. 

P.  When  stock  is  not  dividend  it  is  sold  for  more  than  it  is 
worth  which  is  really  $100. 

8.  Explain  as  fully  as  you  can  the  meaning  of  "  par  value." 

G.  Par  value  means  the  value  set  on  shares  by  the  company 
when  it  sells  the  shares.   This  value  is  100  per  cent. 

F.  Par  value  is  $100. 

P.   Par  value  is  what  you  make. 

9.  Mr.  Brown  has  5/8  of  his  money  invested  in  railway  stock 
and  the  remainder  deposited  in  a  bank.  What  did  Mr.  Brown  do 
to  invest  his  money  in  railway  stock  ?  How  did  he  deposit  his 
money  in  a  bank  ? 

G.  Mr.  Brown  would  probably  buy  through  a  broker.  The 
broker  probably  went  to  the  stock  exchange  and  bought  the  stock 
for  Mr.  Brown.  Mr.  Brown  goes  to  the  bank  and  makes  out  a 
deposit  slip,  telling  whether  he  has  gold,  silver,  or  checks,  and 
gives  the  slip  to  the  receiving  teller  who  writes  it  down  in  Mr. 
Brown^s  bank  book. 

F.  To  invest  means  to  buy  stock.  To  deposit  means  to  take 
out  a  bank  account. 

P.   I  don't  know.    (A  typical  answer  marked  "  P.") 

10.  A  dealer  pays  $9,737.50  for  some  wool,  including  the  pur- 
chasing agent's  commission  of  2 J  per  cent.  Show  that  you  know 
the  meaning  of  the  word  "  commission." 

G.  Commission  is  an  amount  of  money  taken  out  of  the  selling 
price  at  a  certain  per  cent  for  the  work  done  by  the  agent. 

F.  The  commission  is  237.23.    (Correct  answer.) 

P.  The  commission  is  ...  .  (Incorrect  answer  and  method 
of  solution.) 

11.  Show  how  a  promissory  note  may  be  used  in  business. 

G.  A  promissory  note  is  used  (as  a  check)  for  convenience. 
If  A  owes  B  $200  and  he  does  not  have  the  ready  money  he  may 
write  out  a  promissory  note,  promising  to  pay  on  a  certain  date. 


12       BUSINESS  PRACTICE  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS 

F.  A  written  form  of  a  promissory  note  without  comment. 

P.  Promissory  note,  what  you  do  to  contain  a  promise.  It  can 
be  used  in  business  by  interest. 

12.  A  firm  fails  with  assets  of  $20,000  and  liabilities  of  $67,000. 
Explain  what  is  meant  by  "  assets  "  and  "  liabilities." 

G.  Assets  are  the  capital  of  a  company.  Liabilities  are  the 
debts  of  a  company. 

F.  A  firm's  liabilities  are  what  they  can  pay  and  assets  are 
what  they  can't  pay.     (Terms  are  confused.) 

P.   Assets  means  goods  discharged  for  debt. 

13.  What  is  a  savings  bank  ?  Why  is  it  a  good  place  to  put 
your  money  ? 

G.  A  savings  bank  is  a  bank  where  you  put  your  money  re- 
ceiving a  rather  low  rate  of  interest.  It  is  a  good  kind  of  bank 
because  you  have  good  security. 

F.  A  savings  bank  is  a  good  place  to  put  your  money  because 
it  can't  be  stolen  and  you  get  interest. 

P.   A  savings  bank  is  where  you  keep  your  money. 

14.  What  is  a  post-office  money  order  ?  How  can  you  get  one  ? 
What  is  it  used  for  ? 

G.  A  post-office  money  order  is  an  order  given  by  one  office  on 
another.  You  can  get  one  by  filling  out  a  blank  and  paying  a 
certain  amount  of  money.   It  is  used  for  sending  in  the  mail. 

F.  A  post-office  money  order  is  a  paper  stating  you  have  sent 
money  through  the  mail. 

P.  A  post-office  money  order  is  where  you  send  money  some 
place.  You  go  to  a  bank  and  give  them  the  amount. 

15.  What  makes  a  dollar  bill  worth  as  much  as  a  silver  dollar  ? 

G.  A  dollar  bill  is  worth  as  much  as  a  silver  dollar  because  the 
government  is  behind  it  and  because  there  is  a  silver  dollar  in  the 
treasury  of  the  United  States  for  every  dollar  bill  in  circulation. 

F.  Because  it  is  put  out  by  the  government  and  they  said  they 
would  redeem  them  for  gold  or  silver. 

P.   A  dollar  bill  is  a  silver  dollar  just  the  same  as  a  silver  dollar. 


BUSINESS  PRACTICE  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS        1 3 

16.  "A  broker  usually  charges  brokerage  of  1/8  per  cent  for 
buying  or  selling  stock."  What  is  the  meaning  of  "  broker  "  and 
"  brokerage  "  ? 

G.  A  broker  is  one  who  acts  as  an  agent  for  another  in  buying 
and  selling.  Brokerage  is  the  commission  which  the  broker 
charges  on  the  goods. 

F.  A  man  who  buys  or  sells  stocks  for  a  firm. 

P.   Most  of  those  receiving  "  P  "  do  not  answer  this  question. 

17.  "  Our  firm  has  one  method  of  treatment  for  all  customers: 
a  fixed  price  with  a  regular  5  per  cent  discount  for  cash."  What  is 
meant  by  fixed  price  and  5  per  cent  discount  for  cash  ? 

G.  Fixed  price  is  the  price  all  customers  pay  for  one  kind  of 
article  whether  they  buy  much  or  little.  "  Five  per  cent  discount 
for  cash  "  means  that  when  a  person  pays  cash  he  is  given  a  dis- 
count that  if  he  was  carrying  an  account  he  would  not  get. 

F.  A  fixed  price  is  the  selling  price  and  5  per  cent  discount 
means  (one)  can  buy  things  with  5  per  cent  off. 

P.  A  fixed  price  never  changes  but  5  per  cent  discount  means 
that  the  price  will  be  reduced  immediately  instead  of  later. 

18.  Explain  what  is  meant  by  buying  a  piano  on  the  "  install- 
ment plan." 

G.  "On  the  installment  plan  "  means  a  certain  amount  down 
and  so  much  a  month. 

F.  When  you  buy  a  piano  on  the  installment  plan  you  pay  so 
much  a  month. 

P.  Most  of  those  who  received  "  P  *'  did  not  answer  the 
question. 

19.  What  is  a  mortgage  ? 

G.  A  mortgage  is  taken  when  some  one  loans  money  and  holds 
as  security  the  property  of  the  man  who  borrows  the  money. 
The  mortgage  is  the  document  taken,  showing  that  the  property 
is  held  in  security. 

F.  A  mortgage  is  what  you  get  on  your  house  and  you  get 
about  half  its  worth  and  pay  about  6  per  cent  interest. 

P.  A  mortgage  on  a  house  or  any  other  thing  is  supposing 
that  a  man  has  a  mortgage  on  a  house  he  pays  a  certain  sum  of 


14       BUSINESS  PRACTICE  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS 

money  until  they  pay  it  off,  and  if  they  stop  paying  the  house 
is  the  property  of  the  city. 

20.  What  kind  of  taxes  can  you  name  ? 

G.  Water  tax,  county  tax,  school  tax,  import  tax. 

F.  Water  tax,  real  estate,  and  house  tax. 
P.  Personal  tax. 

21.  The  tax  rate  in  a  certain  town  is  $10  a  thousand.  What 
does  that  mean  ? 

G.  On  every  thousand  dollars  you  have  in  property  you  must 
pay  ten  dollars  taxes. 

F.  When  you  pay  ten  dollars  on  a  thousand  you  mean  that  you 
pay  ten  dollars  on  every  thousand. 

P.   On  every  thousand  persons. 

22.  What  does  an  assessor  do  ? 

G.  An  assessor  goes  around  and  finds  out  what  your  property 
is  worth  and  you  have  to  pay  your  tax  accordingly. 

F.  An  assessor  goes  to  houses  to  see  how  much  they  should  be 
assessed  for. 

P.   An  assessor  is  one  who  collects  the  money. 

Tabulating  the  Replies 

Of  the  replies  received  30  sets  were  selected  for  tabulation.  As 
has  been  explained  on  page  8,  these  sets  do  not  represent  thirty 
cities  but  rather  thirty  different  groups.  Several  of  the  sets  are 
from  the  same  city. 

In  all  there  have  been  tabulated  1541  papers.  These  were 
divided  into  two  groups:  first,  22  sets  from  which  the  whole  22 
answers  were  tabulated  and  8  sets  from  which  only  the  first  1 5 
answers  were  tabulated.  Only  the  first  15  answers  were  con- 
sidered in  the  8  sets  because  in  these  schools  the  questions 
toward  the  end  were  either  omitted  entirely  or  answered  too 
hastily  owing  to  lack  of  time. 

The  omission  of  the  answers  to  questions  16-22  in  these  eight 
schools  makes  it  fairly  certain  that  wrong  answers  due  to  lack  of 
time  are  not  included  in  the  tabulations.   In  no  instance  is  there 


BUSINESS  PRACTICE  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS        1 5 

evidence  that  failure  to  answer  any  of  the  first  15  questions  was 
due  to  lack  of  time. 

It  should  also  be  noted  that  the  first  15  answers  in  the  22  sets 
answering  22  questions  are  tabulated  twice:  first  they  appear  as 
part  of  the  tabulation  of  the  22  sets  and  second  they  are  tabu- 
lated along  with  the  8  sets  which  answered  only  15  questions. 
That  is  there  are  22  sets  which  answered  22  questions  and  30  sets 
which  answered  15  questions. 


Number  of  Answers 

There  were  1073  papers  tabulated  for  22  answers,  making  a 
total  of  23,606  answers;  and  468  papers  tabulated  for  15  answers 
making  a  total  of  7020  answers.  The  grand  total  of  answers  is 
30,626.  But  as  the  first  15  answers  of  those  answering  22  ques- 
tions are  tabulated  twice,  the  total  answers  appear  thus:  for  22 
sets  answering  22  questions,  23,606  answers;  for  30  sets  answering 
15  questions,  23,125  answers. 

Table  I  on  page  15  gives  the  number  of  papers  and  the  number 
of  answers  received  from  each  school.  Each  school  has  been 
designated  by  a  Roman  number  given  in  the  left  hand  column. 

TABLE  I 


School 

No.  of 
papers 

No.  of 
answers 

School 

No.  of 
papers 

No.  of 

answers 

I 

77 
57 
39 
67 
45 
66 

35 
40 
48 
43 
36 
49 
74 
37 
32 

1694 

1254 

858 

1474 
990 

1452 
770 
600 
720 
645 
792 

1078 

1628 
814 
704 

XVI 

74 

72 

69 

89 
60 

71 

48 
40 
30 
61 

53 
32 
27 
33 

1628 

II 

XVII 

1584 
814 

1035 

1335 
900 

1065 
720 
880 

Ill    

XVIII 

IV                       .... 

XIX 1   . 

V 

XXI 

VI 

XXI 1 

VII 

XXII 1 .  . 

VIII » 

XXIIIi 

IX» 

XXIV 

XI 

XXV 

660 

XI 

XXVI 

1342 
1166 

XII 

XXVII 

XIII 

XXVIII 

704 

594 
726 

XIV 

XXIX  

XV 

XXX 

*  Answered  only  fifteen  questions. 


1 6       BUSINESS  PRACTICE  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS 

Reliability  of  Deductions 

As  a  total  of  only  1541  papers  were  tabulated,  the  facts  deduced 
from  these  tabulations  cannot  be  considered  final.  It  is  recognized 
that  the  investigation  has  been  limited.  It  will,  however,  be 
found  that  certain  comparisons  and  deductions  made  later  do 
justify  the  behef  that  the  investigation  shows  accurately  certain 
tendencies  or  conditions  and  furnishes  a  rehable  answer  to  the 
original  question  proposed  on  page  i. 

In  Table  II  (page  16)  the  questions  from  i  to  15,  which  are  con- 
sidered in  both  groups  of  schools,  are  ranked  according  to  per- 
centage of  answers  marked  G,  beginning  with  the  one  having  the 
highest  rank. 

TABLE  II 


22  Schools.    Questions  1-15 

30  Schools.    Questions  1-15 

Rank 

Question 

Percentage 

Rank 

Question 

Percentage 

I 

5 

lO.O 

I 

5 

lO.O 

2 

4 

9.8 

2 

10 

9.4 

3 

10 

9.6 

3 

4 

9-3 

4 

3 

9-5 

4 

3 

9.2 

5 

I 

8.3 

5 

I 

8.3 

6 

15 

I'l 

6 

2 

7-7 

7 

2 

7.4 

7 

15 

7-3 

8 

II 

7.2 

8 

II 

7.1 

9 

12 

5-4 

9 

12 

5.3 

10 

7 

5.4 

10 

7 

5-1 

II 

6 

S-i 

II 

6 

5-0 

12 

14 

4.4 

12 

14 

4.9 

13 

13 

3-9 

13 

13 

4.8 

14 

9 

3.0 

14 

9 

3-2 

IS 

8 

2.8 

15 

8 

2.9 

From  Table  II  it  appears  that,  in  both  school  groups,  questions 
I  to  15,  which  were  answered  by  both,  maintain  about  the  same 
rank  in  the  two  groups.  Question  5  has  the  highest  and  Question 
8  the  lowest  rank  in  both  groups.  The  other  questions  either  have 
corresponding  rank  in  both  groups  or  are  not  more  than  one  place 
removed  from  corresponding  rank.   In  fact  this  table  goes  far  to 


BUSINESS  PRACTICE  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS        1 7 

prove  that  the  general  results  of  the  investigation  are  likely  to  be 
true  of  the  average  school,  even  though  they  may  not  apply  in 
particular  instances.     (See  Table  VIII.) 

The  deductions  from  the  investigations  do  not  rest  upon  minute 
differences  in  percentages  but  on  broad  comparisons  which  indi- 
cate unmistakable  tendencies  or  facts.  In  any  event,  the  ques- 
tions and  methods  of  grading  the  answers  have  been  given  and 
teachers  who  are  interested  in  the  conclusions  of  the  investigation 
may  try  them  out  in  their  own  schools. 

General  Results 

In  Table  III  the  answers  are  divided  into  three  groups,  G,  F,  P. 
The  results  are  given  both  in  number  of  answers  and  in  percent- 
ages. 

TABLE  III 

22  Schools  Answering  22  Questions     30  Schools  Answering  15  Questions 


Grade  of  answer 

No.  of 
answers 

Per  cents 

Grade  of  answer 

No.  of 
answers 

Per  cents 

G 

8,641 
6,585 
8,380 

36 
27 

37 

G 

7,915 
6,119 
9,091 

35 
26 

F 

F 

P 

P 

39 

Total 

23,606 

100 

Total 

23,125 

100 

If  all  the  answers  from  all,  that  is  from  thirty  schools,  are 
considered,  there  are  30,626  answers.  Of  these  about  37  per  cent 
are  G;  37  per  cent  P;  and  26  per  cent  F. 

Considering  all  these  figures  together y  it  becomes  evident  that  con- 
siderably more  than  one-third  of  the  answers  are  good,  about  an  equal 
number  are  hopelessly  poor,  and  about  one-quarter  show  very  hazy 
knowledge. 

Results  by  Schools 

The  schools  display  considerable  variation  as  is  shown  in 
Table  IV.  In  this  table  the  schools  are  ranked  according  to  the 
per  cent  of  answers  marked  G,  beginning  with  the  one  having  the 
highest  rank. 


1 8       BUSINESS  PRACTICE  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS 


TABLE  IV 

Per  cent  of  answers  marked 


Per  cent  of  answers  marked 


School 

XI 

II 

XXI 

XV 

XX 

XXIX 

XII 

XXVIII... 

XXX 

XXVII.... 

XIV 

VI 

XXV 

XXVI 

VII 


G 

F 

P 

69 

20 

II 

55 

26 

19 

49 

25 

26 

48 

31 

21 

48 

23 

29 

43 

26 

31 

42 

27 

31 

42 

25 

33 

41 

26 

33 

40 

29 

31 

38 

25 

37 

38 

25 

37 

31 

34- 

29 

37 

25 

38 

37 

19 

44 

School 


XVI.., 
XXIV. 

vrii. . 

XVIII . 

III. ... 

XXII. 

X 

IX ...  . 
XIX.. 
XIII .  . 
XVII . . 

I 

XXIII. 

V 

IV.... 


G 

F 

36 

29 

35 

37 

35 

21 

35 

14 

32 

30 

32 

26 

31 

20 

31 

17 

31 

14 

30 

28 

29 

35 

28 

39 

28 

23 

27 

21 

20 

25 

35 
28 

44 
SI 
38 
42 

49 

52 
55 
42 

36 
33 
49 
52 
55 


The  median  of  the  group  is  36  per  cent  and  the  mode  is  31 
per  cent.  As  has  been  shown  on  page  17  the  average  is  about 
37  per  cent.  That  is,  it  appears  that  in  the  average  school  about 
one-third  of  the  answers  will  be  correct. 


Difficulty  of  the  Questions 

The  questions  show  great  variation  when  compared  as  to 
difl&culty  in  the  light  of  the  answers. 

In  Table  V  the  questions  are  ranked  according  to  the  per- 
centage which  each  question  received  of  the  total  number  of 
answers  marked  G.  There  is  also  given,  in  the  last  column,  for 
each  question  the  per  cent  marked  G  of  all  the  answers  to  that 
question. 

In  Tables  VI  and  VII  the  questions  are  ranked  according  to  the 
per  cent  which  each  question  received  of  the  total  number  of 
answers  marked  F  and  P  respectively.  There  are  also  given  (in 
the  last  column  of  each  table)  for  each  question  the  per  cent 
marked  F  and  P  respectively  of  all  answers  to  that  question. 


BUSINESS  PRACTICE  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS        1 9 


TABLE  V 
G  G 

22  Schools  Answering  22  Questions     30  Schools  Answering  15  Questions 


Rank 

Question 

Per  cent  of 
all  answers 
marked  G 

Per  cent  of 

answers  to 

question 

marked  G 

Rank 

Question 

Per  cent  of 
all  answers 
marked  G 

Per  cent  of 

answers  to 

question 

marked  G 

I 

18 

7.8 

63 

I 

S 

lO.O 

52 

2 

21 

6.6 

S3 

2 

10 

9-4 

48 

3 

5 

6.3 

SI 

3 

4 

9-3 

47 

4 

4 

6.1 

49 

4 

3 

9.2 

47 

5 

20 

6.0 

48 

S 

I 

8.3 

43 

6 

16 

5-9 

47 

6 

2 

7.7 

39 

7 

10 

5-9 

47 

7 

IS 

7-3 

38 

8 

3 

5-9 

47 

8 

II 

7.1 

36 

9 

I 

5-1 

41 

9 

12 

5-3 

27 

10 

15 

4.7 

38 

10 

7 

5-1 

26 

II 

22 

4.6 

37 

II 

6 

5.0 

26 

12 

2 

4-5 

36 

12 

14 

4.9 

25 

13 

II 

4.4 

35 

13 

13 

4.8 

25 

14 

19 

3-7 

30 

14 

9 

3-2 

16 

15 

17 

3-5 

28 

IS 

8 

2.9 

15 

16 

12 

3.4 

27 

17 

7 

3-4 

27 

18 

6 

3-2 

26 

19 

14 

2.7 

21 

20 

13 

2.4 

19 

21 

9 

1.8 

IS 

22 

8 

1-5 

13 

From  Table  V  it  appears  that  questions  18,  21,  5,  and  10  have 
over  50  per  cent  of  their  answers  marked  G.  Questions  14,  13,  9, 
and  8  have  less  than  25  per  cent  of  their  answers  marked  G.  That 
is  some  questions,  as  would  be  expected,  are  much  better  answered 
than  others.  It  further  appears  that  question  13,  which  is  third 
from  the  lowest  in  Table  V,  is  the  first  in  Table  VI,  where  the 
ranking  is  on  the  basis  of  F.  Questions  17,  14,  and  9,  which  are 
well  toward  the  bottom  of  the  Ust  in  Table  V,  are  correspondingly 
near  the  top  in  Table  VI.  That  is,  of  some  qtiestions  many  pupils 
had  a  hazy  knowledge  but  only  a  few  pupils  had  a  definite  knowledge. 
Question  8  is  at  the  top  of  the  list  in  Table  V,  near  the  bottom 


20       BUSINESS  PRACTICE  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS 


TABLE  VI   (FOR  F) 


TABLE  VII   (FOR  P) 


22  Schools  answer- 
ing 22  Questions 


30  Schools  ans^vier- 
iNG  15  Questions 


22  Schools  answer- 
ing 22  Questions 


30  Schools  answer- 
ing 15  Questions 


Sank 

Ques- 
tion 

Per  cent 

of  all 
answers 
marked  F 

Rank 

Ques- 
tion 

Per  cent 

of  all 
answers 
marked  F 

Rank 

Ques- 
tion 

Per  cent 

of  all 
answers 
marked  P 

Rank 

Ques- 
tion 

Per  cent 

of  aU 
answers 
marked  P 

I 

13 

9.2 

I 

13 

12.7 

I 

8 

9.4 

I 

8 

II-3 

2 

17 

7.8 

2 

3 

9.8 

2 

7 

7.6 

2 

7 

10.3 

3 

14 

7.2 

3 

14 

9-7 

3 

12 

6.5 

3 

12 

9.0 

4 

2 

6.7 

4 

2 

9.6 

4 

15 

6.4 

4 

6 

8.8 

5 

9 

6.4 

5 

9 

9.0 

5 

6 

6.3 

5 

IS 

8.6 

6 

3 

6.4 

6 

10 

7-3 

6 

I 

S-9 

6 

9 

8.0 

7 

19 

5.6 

7 

5 

6.9 

7 

9 

S.8 

7 

I 

7.S 

8 

10 

5-3 

8 

II 

6.2 

8 

22 

S-o 

8 

II 

6.5 

9 

20 

4.9 

9 

4 

5-9 

9 

19 

4.6 

9 

14 

6.2 

10 

5 

4.8 

10 

6 

5.6 

10 

II 

4-S 

10 

4 

S-i 

II 

II 

4-7 

II 

12 

5-0 

II 

21 

4.S 

II 

13 

4.1 

12 

6 

4.0 

12 

I 

3.2 

12 

14 

4.3 

12 

10 

3-9 

13 

4 

3.8 

13 

7 

3-2 

13 

16 

4.1 

13 

2 

3.8 

14 

22 

3-7 

14 

8 

2.9 

14 

4 

3.6 

14 

S 

3-5 

IS 

12 

3.5 

15 

15 

2.8 

IS 

13 

3.1 

IS 

3 

2.3 

16 

16 

3-2 

16 

17 

3.0 

17 

18 

2.6 

17 

2 

2.8 

18 

7 

2.2 

18 

20 

2.7 

19 

8 

2.1 

19 

10 

2.6 

20 

I 

2.0 

20 

5 

2.S 

21 

21 

1.9 

21 

18 

2.5 

22 

15 

1.8 

22 

3 

1-7 

in  Table  VI,  and  at  the  top  in  Table  VII.   That  is  this  question 
was  the  most  difficult. 

The  other  questions  which  received  few  good  answers  deal  with 
stocks,  depositing  money  in  a  bank,  and  par  value.  Stocks  and 
par  value  are  likely  to  be  subjects  for  school  study  only,  although 
it  is  probable  that  the  nation-wide  interest  in  the  war  loan  has 
made  these  matters  more  of  common  knowledge  than  they  were 
when  this  investigation  was  carried  out.  The  conclusion  from 
the  investigation  is  that,  as  school  subjects,  stocks,  depositing 
money  and  par  value  are  not  well  taught.  There  may  well  be 
some  doubt  as  to  whether  stocks  and  par  value  should  be  taught 


BUSINESS  PRACTICE  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS        21 

in  the  elementary  school,  but  there  seems  no  good  reason  why 
pupils  cannot  learn  how  to  deposit  money  in  a  bank.  One  might 
suppose  that  the  widespread  use  of  school  banks  would  have  made 
this  subject  well  known  to  most  children.  The  fact  is,  however, 
it  is  not  well  known.  It  would  seem  possible,  even  where  there  is 
not  a  school  bank,  for  the  teacher  to  have  an  interesting  lesson  in 
which  the  class  was  required  to  fill  out  a  blank  deposit  slip.  Such 
a  form  could  easily  be  placed  on  the  board  and  the  teacher  could 
act  as  receiving  teller. 

The  writer  of  this  report  is  decidedly  averse  to  any  general 
criticism  of  the  efficiency  of  grade  teachers.  He  knows  the  com- 
plexity of  the  elementary  program,  the  unwieldly  size  of  the  aver- 
age class,  and  the  rapidity  with  which  a  period  rushes  away.  Yet 
it  seems  evident  that  if  we  grant  the  universal  opinion  of  educa- 
tional authority  that  the  subjects  of  business  practice  must  be 
taught,  it  is  decidedly  wrong  to  let  some  of  these  subjects  slip  by 
almost  unnoticed  when  apparently  they  can  be  taught  by  very 
simple  methods.  That  some  of  these  methods  involve  the  idea  of 
play  should  be  no  criticism.  On  the  contrary  when  a  subject  can 
be  taught  effectively  as  play  there  is  sound  educational  reason 
why  such  a  method  should  be  used. 

The  preceding  paragraphs  show  that  questions  dealing  with 
taxes,  installments,  interest,  and  commission  (questions  i8,  25, 
5,  and  10)  have  over  50  per  cent  of  their  answers  marked  good. 
The  first  two  questions  involve  matters  that  are  probably  com- 
mon knowledge,  that  is,  pupils  become  familiar  with  them  in  the 
every-day  life  of  the  home  and  the  outside  world.  Interest  and 
commission  are  also  likely  to  be  commonly  talked  about.  Interest 
is  certainly  a  subject  of  common  knowledge.  In  addition,  interest 
and  commission  are  also  largely  used  in  arithmetic  drill  in  school. 
On  the  whole,  it  would  seem  that  these  four  questions  deal  with 
ideas  that  are  a  sort  of  '*  pick-up  "  with  most  children.  That  the 
children  are  familiar  with  them  is  not  due  primarily  to  school 
instruction. 

Questions  14,  13,  and  8  deal  with  the  savings  bank,  post-office 
money  order,  and  par  value.  The  first  two,  at  first  sight,  might 
be  considered  also  matters  of  common  knowledge.    But  one 


22       BUSINESS  PRACTICE  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS 

reading  the  answers  quickly  becomes  aware  that  the  pupils  rarely 
know  the  significance  of  a  savings  bank  as  distinct  from  any  other 
kind  of  bank.  It  may  be  that  the  question  was  not  well  phrased, 
but  in  any  event,  the  answers  showed  that  the  pupils,  as  a  rule, 
looked  on  a  savings  bank  simply  as  a  place  "  where  you  get 

TABLE  VIII 


1 

2 

3 

4 

3 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

it 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

Id 

19 

SO 

21 

22 

I 

17 

26 

39 

42 

34 

26 

27 

10 

10 

36 

26 

18 

26 

15 

22 

46 

26 

35 

20 

56 

31 

29 

n 

28 

51 

62 

93 

66 

61 

65 

54 

18 

24 

49 

67 

21 

za 

13 

70 

31 

86 

56 

82 

81 

30 

m 

15 

43 

54 

43 

51 

28 

25 

3 

8 

18 

28 

ZO 

5 

Z3 

\6 

15 

33 

67 

28 

64 

46 

33 

ET 

47 

22 

S5 

Zi> 

28 

6 

7 

0 

6 

34 

15 

16 

\Z 

13 

25 

12 

10 

34 

9 

25 

22 

15 

Y 

20 

17 

33 

ZZ 

35 

29 

29 

4 

15 

51 

13 

17 

4 

6 

4Z 

26 

H 

69 

13 

42 

55 

29 

m 

56 

30 

51 

31 

34 

22 

27 

4 

10 

51 

27 

25 

6 

15 

53 

30 

24 

54 

42 

71 

74 

57 

m 

J4 

42 

71 

65 

62 

48 

34 

5 

25 

60 

40 

25 

20 

II 

BO 

28 

5 

48 

22 

25 

25 

1/ 

YL 

94 

72 

47 

68 

86 

70 

78 

70 

55 

86 

60 

63 

66 

36 

88 

97 

27 

60 

30 

44 

86 

72 

m 

59 

40 

44 

44 

44 

18 

20 

4 

10 

57 

A5 

38 

34 

20 

57 

69 

40 

63 

26 

46 

72 

40 

xzzr 

36 

43 

44 

29 

35 

12 

9 

4 

2 

43 

33 

IB 

9 

6 

26 

45 

18 

75 

28 

41 

62 

35 

XET 

70 

27 

27 

45 

46 

29 

43 

43 

10 

54 

40 

45 

35 

35 

43 

56 

45 

48 

13 

18 

45 

27 

m 

90 

62 

31 

71 

71 

50 

43 

3 

12 

59 

46 

e 

3 

9 

90 

76 

15 

78 

53 

75 

78 

57 

XSI 

47 

31 

36 

63 

62 

3» 

31 

13 

12 

e3 

37 

25 

17 

14 

13 

47 

31 

51 

29 

21 

59 

47 

-gss 

48 

30 

13 

ze 

zo 

II 

II 

6 

9 

SI 

31 

45 

23 

33 

34 

16 

45 

61 

8 

66 

13 

30 

im 

46 

se 

70 

43 

56 

13 

13 

8 

13 

67 

3Z 

16 

27 

29 

32 

40 

10 

64 

24 

37 

24 

29 

jm 

32 

32 

32 

52 

40 

15 

10 

10 

7 

42 

42 

12 

20 

47 

35' 

47 

45 

55 

25 

67 

47 

3S 

xxy 

0 

16 

40 

36 

se 

3 

3 

6 

20 

50 

43 

43 

23 

30 

43 

7 

50 

83 

30 

73 

40 

43 

mi 

19 

29 

50 

67 

77 

8 

31 

24 

11 

45 

29 

19 

1 

14 

34 

73 

31 

83 

37 

42 

41 

32 

jm 

26 

32 

77 

39 

37 

33 

28 

4 

20 

26 

sz 

17 

5 

22. 

51 

67 

28 

75 

41 

45 

03 

54 

XXVIH 

16 

56 

SO 

62 

56 

46 

34 

9 

21 

40 

26 

15 

3 

23 

43 

50 

26 

80 

40 

63 

80 

68 

IBZ 

37 

40 

70 

4© 

65 

3 

O 

0 

22 

€3 

33 

63 

51 

70 

37 

SI 

40 

55 

25 

40 

48 

44 

xxz 

37 

36 

46 

42 

69 

45 

39 

21 

54 

AZ 

33 

24 

45 

18 

30 

51 

27 

72 

57 

30 

BO 

21 

sm 

37 

47 

5Z 

42 

52 

42 

22 

0 

20 

75 

Z2 

32 

r2 

10 

52 

JZ 

31 

37 

37 

33 

56 

16 

10 

6 

\G 

47 

39 

14 

62 

Z5 

23 

I 

51 

41 

S\ 

18 

48 

41 

46 

25 

16 

32 

9 

28 

7 

0 

39 

m 

72 

56 

46 

43 

43 

\0 

5 

3 

8 

37 

29 

8 

37 

30 

21 

TL 

64 

SO 

51 

60 

65 

34 

43 

34 

29 

BO 

SS 

33 

34 

45 

SZ 

m 

63 

53 

51 

50 

53 

30 

36 

38 

43 

SB 

60 

41 

46 

63 

45 

m 

31 

25 

39 

40 

53 

19 

19 

12 

14 

SZ 

38 

26 

46 

33 

36 

nn 

10 

47 

39 

43 

SB 

10 

2 

6 

6 

33 

43 

37 

37 

20 

Id 

interest."  They  did  not  seem  to  be  aware  of  the  peculiar  safe- 
guards that  the  state  has  placed  around  such  institutions  or  of  the 
comparatively  high  rate  of  interest  that  small  investors  can  get 
in  such  a  bank.  The  reason  for  the  common  failure  on  the  ques- 
tion of  obtaining  a  post-office  money  order  is  probably  due  to 
a  simple  fact.  Few  children  ever  actually  buy  such  an  order 
although  they  have  often  seen  it  done.  We  might  suppose,  there- 
fore, that  the  child  is  likely  to  have  a  vague  idea  of  the  correct 
answer.  This  is  seen  to  be  the  case,  for  in  Table  VI  question  14 
is  found  to  have  a  large  number  of  its  answers  marked  fair. 


BUSINESS  PRACTICE  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS        23 

In  Table  VIII  the  number  of  answers,  in  per  cents,  marked  G 
is  given  for  all  the  questions  from  the  thirty  schools. 

Table  IX  is  a  rearrangement  of  Table  VIII,  the  answers  for 
each  question  being  ranked  in  order  beginning  with  the  highest. 
The  black  line  indicates  the  median. 

TABLE  IX 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

d 

9 

\0 

II 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

10 

19 

20 

21 

22 

1 

94 

72 

62 

93 

86 

TO 

78 

70 

55 

66 

60 

67 

66 

70 

90 

97 

50 

87 

57 

62 

86 

72 

2 

90 

62 

77 

88 

86 

61 

65 

54 

J4 

60 

60 

63 

62 

63 

68 

78 

AS 

86 

56 

7S 

83 

66 

3 

72 

56 

71 

71 

83 

SO 

46 

43 

A3 

75 

SS 

63 

51 

47 

60 

73 

AS 

63 

S3 

73 

81 

57 

4 

70 

56 

70 

67 

77 

46 

43 

38 

29 

67 

SZ 

45 

48 

45 

5T 

70 

45 

63 

42 

7/ 

80 

54 

5 

64 

56 

70 

65 

71 

46 

43 

34 

25 

63 

49 

45 

46 

36 

S3 

69 

40 

83 

Al 

66 

78 

47     , 

6 

63 

63 

55 

63 

69 

45* 

43 

25 

2Z 

63 

46 

43 

45 

3S 

SZ 

67 

40 

80 

40 

67 

74 

44 

7 

59 

51 

54 

62 

65 

42 

39 

24 

21 

60 

AS 

4) 

37 

33 

SZ 

56 

33 

60 

37 

68 

72 

43 

8 

57 
56 

50 
47 

^-2 

60 

62 

41 

36 

21 

20 

57 

A3 

38 

37 

33 

SI 

Si 

31 

78 

30 

64 

62 

40 

9 

Jl 

5Z 

62 

34 

34 

13 

zo 

56 

A3 

37 

35 

30 

A5 

51 

31 

73 

30 

46 

60 

37 

10 

54 

47 

51 

50 

56 

33 

34 

12 

20 

54 

42 

33 

34 

30 

A3 

50 

31 

75- 

23 

45 

59 

35- 

II 

51 

43 

St 

48 

56 

31 

31 

10 

18 

S3 

40 

32 

34 

29 

A3 

47 

26 

72 

26 

44 

S5 

3S 

IZ 

40 

43 

51 

45 

56 

30 

31 

10 

18 

SZ 

40 

28 

27 

25 

A3 

47 

26 

69 

26 

42 

48 

33 

13 

4S 

42 

50 

44 

56 

29 

29 

9 

16 

SI 

39 

26 

26 

23 

AZ 

46 

27 

64 

26 

42 

47 

32 

14 

47 

41 

50 

43 

56 

29 

26 

S 

15 

SI 

36 

25 

23 

23 

39 

45 

27 

61 

zs 

41 

46 

30 

15 

47 

40 

46 

43 

<53 

28 

27 

8 

14 

SI 

37 

25 

23 

22 

37 

40 

26 

SS 

2S 

40 

45 

30 

16 

37 

40 

47 

43 

x55 

26 

27 

8 

13 

SI 

33 

2S 

21 

2Z 

36 

30 

24 

S3 

24 

37 

41 

29 

17 

37 

37 

46 

43 

52 

22 

25 

6 

12 

SO 

33 

24 

20 

20 

35 

26 

18 

SA 

22 

36 

40 

29 

id 

36 

36 

41 

42 

5/ 

19 

22 

6 

12 

47 

33 

20 

20 

ZO 

34 

26 

15 

SI 

20 

30 

31 

29 

19 

32 

32 

44 

42 

48 

18 

20 

5 

II 

45 

32 

19 

17 

10 

34 

16 

II 

A8 

13 

26 

25 

27 

20 

31 

32 

40 

42 

48 

16 

19 

4 

10 

43 

31 

id 

(2 

15 

32 

15 

10 

46 

13 

25 

24 

21 

21 

31 

31 

39 

40 

44 

15 

13 

4 

10 

42 

29 

17 

12 

15 

30 

12 

\0 

35 

9 

21 

22 

IS 

22 

2& 

30 

39 

39 

A3 

13 

II 

4 

10 

A2 

29 

If 

14 

26 

7 

5 

3A 

6 

16 

\3 

II 

23 

26 

30 

39 

36 

40 

12 

10 

4 

10 

40 

28 

16 

14 

25 

24 

20 

29 

37 

33 

37 

n 

10 

4 

9 

37 

26 

16 

\3 

23 

25 

19 

27 

36 

31 

35 

10 

9 

3 

6 

36 

26 

13 

W 

22 

26 

16 

26 

S3 

29 

35 

10 

7 

3 

0 

34 

27 

14 

\0 

21 

27 

17 

25 

32 

28 

34. 

e 

5 

3 

8 

33 

22 

12 

9 

18 

26 

15 

22 

31 

26 

34 

6 

3 

0 

7 

32 

15 

12 

a 

18 

29 

10 

17 

21 

22 

26 

5 

2 

0 

6 

26 

13 

8 

6 

13 

CO 

0 

16 

W 

IS 

20 

3 

0 

0 

2 

24 

9 

6 

I 

0 

13 

Table  X  shows  by  schools  the  highest,  the  second  highest,  and 
the  lowest  number  (in  per  cents)  of  answers  marked  G  for  each 
question. 

Table  VIII  shows  great  variation  in  each  school  in  the  niunber 
of  correct  answers  for  the  various  questions.  In  School  XXV  (a 
typical  school  according  to  Table  IV),  83  per  cent  of  the  answers 
to  question  18  are  correct,  but  no  answers  are  correct  for  ques- 
tion I,  and  only  3  per  cent  are  correct  for  questions  6  or  7.  In 
School  XI  (the  one  ranking  highest  according  to  Table  IV)  there 


24       BUSINESS  PRACTICE  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS 

is  also  great  variation.  Here  97  per  cent  of  the  answers  to  ques- 
tion 16  are  correct  but  only  27  per  cent  of  those  for  question  17. 
In  School  IV  (the  one  ranking  the  lowest)  47  per  cent  of  the 
answers  to  question  i  are  correct  but  there  are  no  correct  answers 
for  question  8. 

Table  IX  shows  great  variation  by  schools  in  the  number  of 
correct  answers  for  any  question.  The  correct  answers  to  ques- 
tion I  range  from  94  per  cent  in  one  school  to  o  per  cent  in 
another.  (Table  X.)  For  question  2  the  variation  ranges  from 
72  per  cent  to  16  per  cent.  (Table  X.)  By  running  down  the 
columns  in  Table  IX,  one  can  see  that  the  variation  is  great  for 
all  the  questions. 

TABLE  X 


Question 


School 


Highest 
number 


School 


Second 
highest 
number 


School 


Lowest 
number 


I 
2 
3 
4 

S 
6 

7 
8 

9 
10 
II 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 

17 

18 

19 
20 
21 
22 


XI 

XI 

II 
II 
II 

XI 
XI 
XI 
XI 
XI 
XI 
XI 

II 

XI 

XXIX 

XV 

XI 

XXV 

III 

XXX 

II 

XI 
XI 


94 

72 
82 

93 
86 

70 
78 
70 

55 
88 
80 
67 
66 
70 
90 
97 

50 

87 
57 
82 
86 
72 


XV 

XV 

XXVII 

XI 

XXIX 

II 
II 
II 

XXX 

VII 
XXI 

XI 

IX 
XXI 

XI 

XXVI 

XIV  \ 

XVII 

XXIV  i 

II 
II 

XV 
XXVII 
XXVIII 


90 
62 

77 
88 

86 

61 
65 

54 
54 
80 
60 

63 
62 

63 
88 
78 

45 

86 
56 
75 
83 
68 


XXV 
XXV 

XVII 
X 

XVII 

XXV 
XIXX 
XXIX 

XIII 

II 

X 
XV 

XXVI 

X 
XVI 
XXV 

VII 

IV 

XVI  . 

XIV 

XVII 

VII 


3 
o 
o 

2 

24 

9 
6 

I 

o 

13 

7 


34 

8 

18 

13 


BUSINESS  PRACTICE  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS       25 

At  the  same  time  this  table  (IX)  shows  that  ahnost  every 
question  has  been  answered  fairly  well  by  some  school.  In  the 
first  rank  the  per  cent  of  correct  answers  by  schools  runs  from  97 
per  cent  for  question  16  to  50  per  cent  for  question  17. 

Then  Table  X  shows  that  the  highest  ranking  (first  or  second 
place)  is  not  confined  to  one  or  two  schools;  for  sixteen  different 
schools  are  first  or  second  in  the  number  of  correct  answers  for 
some  one  of  the  22  questions.  Thirteen  schools  occupy  the  lowest 
place  for  one  or  more  of  the  questions  but  eight  of  these  thirteen 
schools  also  occupy  the  highest  or  second  highest  ranking  on  other 
questions. 

Recapitulation 

From  the  facts  of  the  preceding  tables  it  is  found  that: 

1.  Something  over  1/3  of  all  the  answers  are  correct.    (Table 

III.) 

2.  Only  two  schools  have  more  than  50  per  cent  of  their 
answers  correct.     (Table  IV.) 

3.  Eleven  schools  have  less  than  1/3  of  their  answers  correct. 
(Table  IV^.) 

4.  The  average  school  has  about  36  per  cent  of  the  answers 
correct.     (Table  IV.) 

5.  Four  questions  (4,  18,  21,  5)  have  more  than  50  per  cent  of 
their  answers  correct.     (Table  V.) 

6.  Four  questions  (8,  9,  13,  14)  have  less  than  25  per  cent  of 
their  answers  correct.     (Table  V.) 

7.  On  the  basis  of  correct  answers,  the  questions  vary  greatly 
in  difficulty  (Tables  V,  VI,  VII,  VIII,  IX)  though  every  ques- 
tion receives  at  least  50  per  cent  of  answers  correct  in  some  school. 
(Table  IX.) 

8.  By  considering  first  and  second  rank  by  schools  for  any  one 
question,  sixteen  out  of  thirty  schools  rank  first  or  second  highest 
on  some  one  question. 

There  is  a  further  important  deduction  from  the  papers  which, 
however,  does  not  appear  in  the  tables.  The  examiner  noted  that 
while,  of  course,  many  pupils  answered  all  the  questions  well, 


26       BUSINESS  PRACTICE  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS 

there  was  a  striking  tendency  on  the  part  of  very  many  pupils  to 
answer  some  questions  conspicuously  well  and  others  very  poorly 
or  not  at  all. 

Conclusions 

In  the  Hght  of  the  preceding  recapitulation  one  general  con- 
clusion is  evident: 

Business  practice  (as  indicated  by  the  questions)  is^  as  a  rule, 
not  well  known  to  pupils  of  the  eighth  grade j  although  it  is  possible 
for  them  to  know  it. 

A  further  conclusion,  stated  previously,  is  that  from  one-half  to 
two-thirds  of  a  class  is  likely  to  have  either  a  very  inadequate 
knowledge  or  no  knowledge  at  all  of  a  subject  of  business  practice. 
That  is  to  say:  these  pupils  when  dealing  with  arithmetical  questions 
involving  business  practice  are  engaged  in  abstract  arithmetic  only. 

The  examples  given  to  these  pupils  cannot  at  present  be  of  any 
more  interest  to  them  than  the  old-fashioned  problems  based  on 
troy  weight  or  aliquot  parts.  The  modern  problems  are  probably 
more  skilfully  prepared  to  meet  their  comprehension,  but  the 
pupils  who  are  in  F  and  P  groups  are  for  all  intents  and  purposes 
being  taught  formal  arithmetic  and  nothing  else.  Their  interest  in 
the  problems  can  be  nothing  more  than  that  purely  mental  one 
found  in  solving  abstract  problems.  In  fact  such  pupils  are  some- 
what similarly  situated  to  those  evening  school  students  men- 
tioned on  page  4.  The  topics  appear  just  the  thing  to  furnish 
them  arithmetical  problems,  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  pupils 
don't  know  much  about  the  topics. 

Recommendations 

The  limits  of  the  investigation  and  the  nature  of  the  returns 
make  decided  recommendations  doubtful.  It  is  true  that  the 
investigation  shows  that  the  average  pupil's  knowledge  of  busi- 
ness practice  is  inadequate  while  it  also  seems  to  show  that  he  can 
be  given  a  fairly  adequate  knowledge.  At  the  same  time  it  does 
not  tell  where  he  obtained  the  knowledge  that  he  has. 

It  seems  evident,  however,  to  the  investigator,  who  read  the 
papers  with  this  in  mind,  that  much,  perhaps  most,  of  the  pupil's 


BUSINESS  PRACTICE  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS        27 

knowledge  was  obtained  outside  of  schooL  But  much  of  the 
information  is  as  plainly  obtained  in  school.  The  problem  is 
whether  or  not  it  is  advisable  where  necessary  to  give  it  all  in 
school  by  direct  teaching. 

Now  it  has  been  stated  earlier  (p.  5)  that  the  weight  of  educa- 
tional opinion  is  unreservedly  in  favor  of  the  employment  of 
business  practice.  It  has  also  been  stated  (p.  6)  that  there  seem 
to  be  three  reasons  which  are  supposed  specially  to  justify  the 
subject.  If  the  soundness  of  these  three  reasons  is  examined,  it 
will  help  to  show  the  exact  place  of  the  study  in  the  elementary 
school. 

In  the  first  of  these  three  reasons  for  the  teaching  of  business 
practice  it  was  said  that  the  subject  gives  the  child  added  interest  in 
arithmetic.  It  may  be  seriously  doubted,  however,  if  business 
practice  does  really  give  much  added  interest  to  arithmetic.  No 
doubt  a  pupil  in  a  commercial  course,  who  believes  he  will  be  a 
bookkeeper,  may  derive  a  kind  of  far-lying  interest  from  thinking 
that  exercises  involving  **  liabilities  "  and  "  assets  "  are  about 
matters  which  he  really  needs  and  wishes  to  know.  As  a  matter  of 
fact  what  he  really  does  find  when  he  is  actually  "  on  the  job  "  is 
that  he  has  to  learn  the  methods  of  keeping  accounts  peculiar  to 
one  particular  firm.  What  he  has  brought  to  his  task  is  his 
general  preparation.  Still,  it  must  be  admitted  that  it  seems 
natural  for  the  prospective  bookkeeper  to  busy  himself  with  sums 
in  "  liabilities  "  and  "  assets  "  and  similar  things. 

But  comparatively  few  pupils  are  to  become  bookkeepers. 
Comparatively  few  pupils  are  to  find  jobs  in  any  particular  line. 
The  truth  is  that  it  is  exceedingly  hard  to  find  in  arithmetic  the 
problem  for  which  the  pupil  has  a  warm  personal  interest  either 
because  he  meets  it  every  day  or  expects  to  find  it  confronting 
him  in  his  job. 

Take  for  example  the  following  exercises  selected  at  random 
from  a  popular  arithmetic : 

"  Mrs.  Ames  ordered  the  following  groceries:  a  5  pound  fowl 
at  23  cents,  2  loaves  of  bread  at  5  cents,  2  pecks  of  potatoes  at 
25  cents.  What  was  the  total  amount  charged  on  the  salesman's 
sUp." 


28       BUSINESS  PRACTICE  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS 

"  Mr.  James  Ryan  contracted  to  work  for  Marcus  Corners  for 
two  years  at  a  salary  of  $900  a  year.  How  much  did  he  receive 
a  month  ?  " 

"  Mr.  White  purchased  a  lot  and  built  a  double  house  upon  it  at 
a  total  cost  of  $7000  and  then  rented  it  for  $37.50  per  month  a 
side.  He  paid  $84  annually  for  taxes  and  $46  for  repairs.  What 
per  cent  did  his  investment  yield  ?  '' 

These  exercises  are  not  quoted  as  horrible  examples.  Questions 
in  arithmetic  must  be  stated  in  some  way  and  the  problems  above 
are  clear  and  adapted  to  the  child's  understanding.  But  the  pupil 
is  not  much  interested  in  Mrs.  Ames's  groceries,  Mr.  Ryan's  con- 
tract, or  Mr.  White's  house.  He  knows  that  they  are  not  real 
people  —  not  even  characters  in  a  story.  The  problem's  the 
thing,  the  pupil  knows  that  and  proceeds  to  solve  it  as  quickly  as 
he  can  without  much  if  any  thought  about  the  social  or  practical 
bearing  of  the  exercise.  Of  course  there  are  exceptions.  A  few 
problems  can  be  found  of  considerable  personal  interest  to  each 
individual,  but  they  are  very,  very  few.  In  real  life  the  average 
person  either  does  practically  no  arithmetic  at  all  or  is  limited  by 
his  profession  to  problems  of  a  very  special  class. 

This  is  no  condemnation  of  ''  practical  "  problems  in  the  aver- 
age arithmetic.  Similar  statements  could  be  made  with  equal 
truth  about  the  general  run  of  exercises  in  books  on  English  com- 
position or  of  any  subject  involving  exercises.  The  fallacy  lies  in 
calling  "  practical  "  problems  what  they  are  not.  They  are  prac- 
tical in  the  sense  that  the  pupil  is  more  familiar  with  their 
language  than  he  would  be  with  ones  involving  parasangs  or 
obols.  They  help  him  to  acquire  facility  in  his  fundamentals,  but 
that  the  pupil  really  cares  much  whether  "  Three  men  dig  a 
trench,  etc.,"  or  whether  they  dig  a  well  is  unlikely.  Therefore  it 
seems  that  the  interest  added  to  arithmetic  by  business  practice 
is  doubtful. 

Turning  to  the  second  reason  for  teaching  business  practice, 
the  hkelihood  that  the  pupil  will  be  able  to  do  the  special  arith- 
metical problems  of  his  job,  this  seems  to  be  even  more  doubtful. 
As  has  been  pointed  out  in  speaking  of  added  interest,  the  aver- 
age person  does  not  meet  any  arithmetical  problems  which  he 


BUSINESS  PRACTICE  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS       29 

must  solve.  Most  persons  rarely  exercise  their  arithmetical  train- 
ing further  than  to  make  change.  The  average  practical  mechanic 
if  he  must  find  the  solution  of  a  problem,  as  for  example  the  steam 
pressure  on  a  pipe,  looks  in  a  book  of  tables.  And  then  few  pupils 
will  ever  need  to  find  the  pressure  on  steam  pipes. 

In  fact  business  practice  is  in  part  being  justified  by  the  old 
fallacy  about  "  storing  up  useful  information  to  be  drawn  upon  at 
some  indefinite  future  time."  The  mere  complexity  of  modern 
life  ought,  it  would  seem,  to  be  sufficient  to  explode  this  fallacy. 
No  one  today  can  hope  to  "  take  all  knowledge  for  his  province." 
If  by  business  practice  is  meant  a  method  through  which  a 
pupil  is  to  become  acquainted  with  the  arithmetic  problems 
of  actual  business,  a  mere  statement  of  the  vastness  of  the 
undertaking  makes  the  task  a  gigantic  h)^erbole. 

But  the  third  reason  for  teaching  business  practice,  namely 
giving  the  pupil  some  acquaintance  with  the  big  facts  of  com- 
mercial life,  seems  to  be  entirely  sound.  Under  present  social 
conditions  the  preservation  of  economic  independence  may 
almost  be  called  the  first  law  of  nature.  Now  it  has  been  well  said 
that  what  is  needed  most  in  education  is  not  so  much  the  dis- 
covery of  new  knowledge  as  the  dissemination  of  what  is  already 
known.  If  a  few  plain  facts  about  insurance,  savings  banks, 
"  cash  or  credit,"  "  fixed  price,"  and  similar  things  were  crystal- 
lized as  matters  of  common  knowledge,  pauper  families,  insolvent 
trust  companies,  credit  stores  and  similar  facts  almost  all  due  to 
popular  ignorance  might  be  less  prevalent.  It  is  a  fact  that  our 
whole  government  postal  saving  system  is  based  on  popular 
ignorance.  No  doubt  under  present  conditions  the  post-ofl&ce 
bank  is  a  blessing,  but  if  the  thousands  of  workers  putting  their 
money  in  the  government  hands  really  knew  just  one  or  two  facts 
about  banks  they  would  consider  themselves  cheated  every  day 
they  received  2  per  cent  instead  of  4.  The  school  bank  has  done 
much  to  introduce  to  this  country  the  frugaUty  of  the  French 
peasant  upon  which  rests  in  the  main  the  economic  strength  of 
France.  It  is  in  such  matters  that  business  practice  has  its 
significance. 


30       BUSINESS  PRACTICE  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS 

But  if  what  has  been  said  be  admitted,  it  appears  that  business 
practice  from  its  most  important  side  is  not  arithmetic  at  alL  It 
is  rather  the  inculcation  of  a  kind  of  general  information  or 
civilized  common  sense  necessary  in  our  present  social  condition. 
The  subject  is  in  reaUty  too  broad  and  vague  to  be  only  the 
appendage  of  any  one  other  subject.  Money  and  banks,  for 
instance,  can  well  be  discussed  in  history.  Taxes  can  fall  under 
so-called  community  civics,  as  can  the  post  office  and  its  functions. 

The  truth  seems  to  be  that  to  modern  inteUigence  a  number  of 
things  are  necessary  which  appear  in  the  business  world.  Chil- 
dren pick  these  up  in  all  kinds  of  ways  in  school  and  out.  Business 
practice  is  not  and  probably  cannot  be  a  finished  study  in  the 
sense  that  arithmetic  or  American  history  is.  The  most  that  can 
be  expected  is  that  the  teacher  will  give  information  or  make 
definite  what  the  pupil  already  knows  about  a  few  of  the  big  facts 
of  business.  Here  lies  one  of  the  great  possibilities  of  the  subject. 
It  furnishes  means  for  valuable  correlation  between  studies.  It 
may  be  one  of  the  means  of  giving  more  unity  to  curricula  now 
often  lacking  in  coordination. 

A  Textbook 

What  seems  to  be  needed  is  a  textbook  on  business  practice 
which  will  contain  the  minimum  that  the  teacher  ought  to  know 
in  teachable  form.  Such  a  book  would  give  the  instructor  definite 
ideas  as  to  what  ought  to  be  taught  and  the  topics  could  be  taken 
up  as  occasion  arose,  due  consideration  being  given  to  the 
scattered  information  already  existing  in  the  class. 

The  following  subjects  are  suggested  as  appropriate  to  such  a 
text:  money,  commercial  paper,  interest  and  investment,  banks, 
corporations  and  firms,  stocks  and  bonds,  credit  and  securities, 
real  estate,  insurance,  taxes,  transportation  companies,  the  post 
office. 

It  seems  certain  that  the  subjects  of  Business  Practice  are  not 
likely  to  be  adequately  taught  simply  by  definitions.  To  tell  a 
class  that  "  Interest  is  a  premium  paid  for  the  use  of  money  " 
may  or  may  not  be  giving  them  information.  Definitions,  how- 
ever, may  have  value,  if  pupils  are  encouraged  to  struggle  for 
definitions  of  their  own. 


BUSINESS  PRACTICE  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS        3  I 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  have  found  that  many  of  the  topics  lend 
themselves  readily  to  class  discussion.  In  an  average  eighth 
grade  there  is  likely  to  be  a  number  of  pupils  who  will  have 
children's  knowledge  of  the  matter  in  hand.  It  is  just  such  knowl- 
edge that  is  valuable,  if  the  teacher  knows  how  to  use  it.  A  class 
discussion  of  money,  for  instance,  is  almost  sure  to  disclose  a 
good  many  scattered,  but  no  less  valuable,  bits  of  information, 
which  can  be  written  and  arranged  on  the  blackboard.  The 
teacher  can  supplement  such  facts  by  additional  matter,  taken  if 
necessary  from  some  desk  book.  She  should  have  clearly  in  her 
own  mind  just  what  she  thinks  the  pupil  ought  to  know  about  the 
topic  under  discussion.  She  should  find  out  first  just  what  he 
does  know,  and  the  additional  information  that  she  gives  him 
should,  where  possible,  be  linked  up  with  the  life  that  he  sees,  or 
can  be  taught  to  see,  about  him. 

Suggestions 

On  page  21,  it  has  been  suggested  that  the  teacher  might  have 
the  pupils  play  at  depositing  money  in  a  bank.  The  significance 
of  a  check  or  a  post-office  money  order  might  be  shown  in  a 
similar  manner.  Now,  no  one  supposes  that  such  a  method  of 
teaching  is  a  brand  new  idea.  It  has  long  been  the  basis  of  much 
of  our  instruction  in  commercial  courses  in  high  school,  but  it  may 
be  that  its  very  simplicity  has  made  us  doubtful  of  its  effective- 
ness. But  merely  handling  or  seeing  a  thing  often  gives  a  peculiar 
reahty  to  the  idea  of  it;  a  reahty  that  has  a  sound  psychological 
basis.  Common  sense  would  seem  to  place  beyond  argmnent  the 
advisability  of  letting  children  see  the  things  that  they  are  to 
learn  about,  especially  when  these  things  can  be  shown  with  so 
little  effort.  It  may  seem  trivial  to  talk  at  length  on  so  simple  a 
matter  as  holding  up  before  a  class  a  stock  certificate  or  passing 
around  the  room  a  check.  The  teacher  who  reads  this  must  him- 
self be  the  judge.  But  before  he  gives  his  final  opinion,  he  might 
ask  himself  this  question: 

"  Have  I  ever  taught  insurance  to  a  class  without  making  sure 
when  I  was  through  that  there  was  no  pupil  in  the  room  who  did 
not  even  know  just  what  an  insurance  policy  looks  like  ?  " 


UNIVEKSITY  OF  CALIFOENIA  LIBRAEY, 
BERKELEY 

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^  ..' 

FEB  15  192) 

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MAR    12  1931 
REC'D  LD 

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